Ideas for a New Layout

[DairyStateDad]

As I read it, the yard is accessible from both sides. If I am correct about that, then I don't think the yard reach is a problem.

(If I am mistaken, then I would agree that you might want to rethink that.)

Erik

 

[cajon]

Drew up this plan to show a few of my ideas for your consideration. As can be seen my plan does not use sectional track like SCARM does. And you will notice haven't learned a CAD program yet! LOL But have been doing track plans for 40 years and had the good fortune to work w/ some Santa Fe civil engineers on a RR project in NW NM. Also was a RR conductor for 7 years.
There isn't really a need for a runaround within the yard w/ the siding next to it. And it takes away from yard capacity. Also added another yard track. Redrew the mine(?) area to give it more room for cars. If a Xover is needed there put it after the mine. Replaced the switchback w/ the two spurs crossing each other. This way there's more room for industry spots. If Mark22 is going to run pax trains made suggestions where to put stations. Also labeled one of the yard tracks as a caboose &/or RIP track. If a separate one is needed put another switch in for it. There's also plenty of internet discussions on sectional/modular layout building that can be found thru Google &/or books at a LHS.

 

[DairyStateDad]

Replaced the switchback w/ the two spurs crossing each other.

Hmmmm.. I have a switchback on my plan -- but the two spurs crossing could work just as well, I think, and I like how that works. May steal that idea...


Erik

 

[cajon]

Hmmmm.. I have a switchback on my plan -- but the two spurs crossing could work just as well, I think, and I like how that works. May steal that idea...Erik

Erik
You won't be "stealing" that idea from me as the real RRs have been doing it that way since Moby Dick was a minnow. LOL

 

[Mark22]

As I read it, the yard is accessible from both sides. If I am correct about that, then I don't think the yard reach is a problem.

(If I am mistaken, then I would agree that you might want to rethink that.)

Erik

Yes, the yard isn't up against a wall. The north and east side of the plan will be up against a wall in the corner of the room. A lot of people have said to get rid of the turntable, but its pretty high up on my "gotta have" list. I'll make a few changes as cajon suggested and post a revised plan later. I'm only planning on running short steam and 4 axle diesels only, but one of my constraints is #6 switches on the mainline and min 22" curves. Thanks again of all of the advice!

 

[Mark22]

Made some changes based on Cajon's recommendations. It was tricky to get it all to fit nicely, but I like how it came out. I might accidentally start on benchwork this weekend.

 

[cajon]

This plan looks much better & not for following my suggestions. Guess you put the station by the yard & inside the siding. If the brown box is the freight part you might want to put the spur behind it to keep cars off the station platform. The station could also serve as your RR's main office & crew room. And on the branchline siding you could extend it by putting left switch on curve like right one.

 

[Mark22]

This plan looks much better & not for following my suggestions. Guess you put the station by the yard & inside the siding. If the brown box is the freight part you might want to put the spur behind it to keep cars off the station platform. The station could also serve as your RR's main office & crew room. And on the branchline siding you could extend it by putting left switch on curve like right one.

The brown boxes to the south of the station are a coal and water tower to service locos coming off of the turntable. I'm not really sure I even need the small siding in front of the southern station. I don't think I can get it to loop around with a curved switch either, so I might just get rid of it totally. The changes on the north section were a total bear to get to look right and function right. It is a little "busier" than I wanted, but it seems very good from an operations standpoint. I had to mix a lot of Walthers turnouts with Atlas to get it to line up right. Question: do Walthers Code 83 turnout have the same tie color as Atlas or will it look bad to have a Walthers turnout with Micro Engineering or Atlas track next to it??

 

[cajon]

Mistook the big grey box (parking lot?) next to big brown box to be station & freight house the brown one. But if brown one is station it's OK. You could use the spur to "park" the pax train when not running. Just make sure it's long enough to hold all your cars. Have given any thought to using a doodlebug for pax service? Sometimes they've even been used to pull a few freight cars. If you have DCC you can have it run around getting the way of freight action. LOL

 

[Mark22]

Yeah, the gray box is a parking lot. The station is next to the parking lot. I wanted to have the road cross the main line at least once. I've got a good idea to build a grade crossing flasher circuit for $5 and I want to have at least one place to use it. What is "pax" trains?? Local delivery and spotting trains? Since this is going to be a small mountain line, most of the mainline and local trains will be short anyway.

 

[cajon]

Pax is short for passenger. So if your pax train is a doodlebug (motorized car) & it could pull a few freights also - AKA mixed train. Attach pix of ATSF 179 pulling a Pax car. They carried passengers plus mail & small parcels. Bachmann makes a reasonably priced doodlebug,

 

[Iron Horseman]

Pax is short for passenger.

Is it really that hard to write "passenger" instead of making everyone figure out what you are talking about? I've been around railroads for 50 years, read hundreds of books on railroads, and work for a railroad and never heard of PAX a an abbreviation for passenger until today, unless one considers the original name for Amtrak was going to be RailPAX. Is it a "texting" thing? On the other hand, I have heard of as "PAX" computer system for scheduling of crews for passenger trains. I believe it actually stands for Passenger And eXpress.

 

[Mark22]

Ah, OK. I'm on the same page as you guys now. Not planning on running much if any passenger service. I don't even own a passenger car. The mainline curves are 22" R in several spots, so I don't think any passenger cars would look right.

Any thoughts on benchwork? I'm thinking open grid with risers for the north and west section and open grid with a plywood top for the south and east (yard) sections.

 

[cajon]

Iron
Guess you just haven't been around Amtrak much. (they've only been around 40 years. . Used to be one of their conductors. And my lady pax had all kinds of fun w/ that word. LOL

 

[cajon]

Ah, OK. I'm on the same page as you guys now. Not planning on running much if any passenger service. I don't even own a passenger car. The mainline curves are 22" R in several spots, so I don't think any passenger cars would look right.

Any thoughts on benchwork? I'm thinking open grid with risers for the north and west section and open grid with a plywood top for the south and east (yard) sections.

Then a doodlebug for pax service would work great & the Bachmann will have no problems on your curves. Googling "model railroad bench work" should get you alot of info on same.

 

[Pacodutaco]

The layout design seems to be evolving nicely. I really like this latest design.

 

[Mark22]

The latest version. I made a few changes in some spots and moved some things around slightly so that it would be easier to lay out the track center lines. I added an extra bridge and road underpass and re-arranged the southern station layout.

 

[DairyStateDad]

I'm no expert, but I question the very short third track in your yard. Earlier iterations of your plan had a few more tracks in the yard, and they were generally longer. I realize you might have needed to make room for some other details and features, but I am wondering if you can find a middle ground so that you could do the yard a bit more like some of the previous versions.

Of course, I'm probably suggesting you do exactly the opposite of what people who know more about what they're talking about have suggested... So take that FWIW. I think the overall layout design looks really good.

 

[logandsawman]

The brown boxes to the south of the station are a coal and water tower to service locos coming off of the turntable. ?

First, I want to thank you for sharing your entire process. I spent a good half hour going over your progression and found it very interesting and informative. That goes for all the members that provided input.

I may be getting a bit picky here, and some may disagree, but there may be some wisdom in putting your coal and water stations along a siding where trains passing thru can utilize them. Not just loco's utilizing the turntable.

Research I completed lately on my last post in "alternative materials" shows an actual layout of track through a small town. Coal shutes were easily accessible to all trains, and the water tower was off on its own, still on a run thru siding. There was a river to the south of the water tower with a pipeline that filled the tower. For this location, they would have had to run the water line under all the tracks to get the water over by the coal shutes.

Thanks for all your effort in the thread!

lasm

 

[Doughless]

The latest version. I made a few changes in some spots and moved some things around slightly so that it would be easier to lay out the track center lines. I added an extra bridge and road underpass and re-arranged the southern station layout.

View attachment 39399

I'll take a stab at this. We seem to be struggling with the yard area. Lets just think outside of the box for a bit. How about losing the tunnel on the NW side and sliding the town and mining branch switch up along the curve. Use a Peco or Walthers curved turnout. The siding and town would sort of flow NW to SE and rework the spurs a bit.

Sliding the branch spur up into the curve gives you space to slide the yard and runaround tracks north and allows for more room in the SW.

You should still have room to have a small river in the NW corner.